DX12 and Battlefield 1

[pcslookout]

Why did DirectX 12 fail for Battlefield 1 ?

 

[Carfax83]

Why did DirectX 12 fail for Battlefield 1 ?

Probably because the engine is hyper optimized for DX11.1. To really get the most out of DX12, the engine has to be redesigned for it. Just tacking it on isn't good enough, at least not for FB 3.5. Other engines have shown much better gains when it comes to adapting for DX12 though, like UE4, Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine and several others.

That said, no engine has fully transitioned over to DX12 yet however.

 

[Reinvented]

Probably because the engine is hyper optimized for DX11.1. To really get the most out of DX12, the engine has to be redesigned for it. Just tacking it on isn't good enough, at least not for FB 3.5. Other engines have shown much better gains when it comes to adapting for DX12 though, like UE4, Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine and several others.

That said, no engine has fully transitioned over to DX12 yet however.

Do you think this is a good opportunity for more developers to start adopting Vulkan? I've had all sorts of great improvements using Vulkan, and while it's not perfect either, it's leaps and bounds better than what DX12 has provided in games.

 

[Carfax83]

I've had all sorts of great improvements using Vulkan, and while it's not perfect either, it's leaps and bounds better than what DX12 has provided in games.

I'm curious as to how you come to that conclusion? How many Vulkan games are there, and how many DX12 games are there? Lets look at the best examples. Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus is the best example of what Vulkan is currently capable of, and uses Vulkan exclusively. For DX12, you have Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Forza Horizon 7 which are all DX12 exclusives and all three run extremely well on PC with high framerates. To be honest, both APIs are very capable but still maturing and haven't reached their full potential.

I just did this draw call overhead test for 3D Mark between Vulkan and DX12, and both had very similar performance with the latest drivers. In the future, developers will chose between the two based on ease of use, platform support and feature set. I wouldn't be surprised if DX12 overtakes Vulkan in both ease of use and feature set, as Direct3D has typically had much better support over the years than the open standards.

 

[Spjut]

Most studios still prioritize DX11 because they need to, since Win7 is still too big to ignore. And a game that really does utilize DX12 will be unplayable in DX11.